MAC Surf Baby Eyeshadow & Crushed Metal Pigment Review

I'm going to split these reviews up into sections like I usually do but I just don't have time to put them all up today so bear with me, the rest will go up tomorrow and Wednesday if I don't finish them tomorrow. I've been swatching and testing things since I got in from work and the lighting hasn't been the best so I had to do it outside but then it was too windy so I moved into the greenhouse haha!

First of all, there are five eye shadows in this collection and two Crushed Metal Pigment stacks. I picked up two of the eyeshadows, Sun Blonde (mustardy yellow - frost) and Surf USA (green teal - frost) - both unique to everything I own. I also chose the Crushed Metal stack in Surf The Ocean which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. Surf The Ocean contains four shades of pigment (the crushed metal pigments are different to regular pigments), a bronze gold, a black-navy blue, grey silver and a seafoam green.

L-R: Sun Blonde, Surf USA

L-R: Sun Blonde, Surf USA

The eye shadows are some of the most pigmented MAC eye shadows I have come across. They are just beautiful. They are so soft and effortlessly blendable and if these colours appeal to you, I would recommend getting them because you wont be disappointed. According to Temptalia, the other three eye shadows in this collection are equally brilliant (I haven't swatched them myself). These two have frost finishes but they aren't chunky or chalky like some frosts can be, they are just perfect. As soon as I swatched Surf USA I wanted a backup but that would just be silly because it will take me forever to finish it but it really is that good! I'm so hoping this is where MAC will be going with their future eye shadows.

Surf The Ocean comes with two stacks of pigments which can be stacked all together if you wish. There are two screwcaps so you can take one to travel with and the ones left at home still have a screwcap to seal them. They each have a little plastic insert, similar to the ones in full size regular pigments but it lacks the tab to help lift them. They can be a bit fiddly so be careful when removing them.

Surf The Ocean Crushed Metal Pigment Stack

Surf The Ocean Crushed Metal Pigment Stack

Surf The Ocean Crushed Metal Pigment Stack

The actual pigments are a bit different to regular pigments. They are chunkier and very soft so they can end up sticking together. The gold and seafoam green are chunkier than the navy and silver, the gold being the most where it looks like little nuggets of fools gold in the pot. They don't apply like a regular pigment as the texture seems different, these seem so soft and feel a bit fluffy when applying whereas regular pigments feel like an eye shadow but just loose. The other difference is that these are very metallic in finish. They are very pretty and should look really good as a soft metallic eye or going heavier and smokey with the darker colours. Like all pigments, these can be used wet or dry, mixed together to make new colours, used on eyes, face, lips, hair or to make custom nail polish. If using them dry, you will probably want to choose a sticky base to help them adhere better.

L-R: Surf The Ocean Crushed Metal Pigment Stack - seafoam, silver, navy, gold,
Sun Blonde Eye shadow, Surf USA Eye shadow

- Jennifer